Eastern Balkans

The region of the Lower Danube, together with the Carpathians in the north, and the Thracian highlands to the south.

Contains: The Agathyrsi, Berlad, Bihar, Bulgaria, Burzenland, Dacia, Destra, Dobrogea, Moldavia, Moldova, Paeonia, Romania, Siebenburgen, Transylvania, and Wallachia.

 
The AGATHYRSI The Agathyrsi were a nomadic people, perhaps Scythians or Thracians, that inhabited the Mures region of what is now east-central Transylvania during the time of Herodotus. Herodotus describes them as being wealthy and wearing large quantities of gold as well as holding their wives in common (4.104). Other sources refer to them as "Thyrsagettae", though this may be confusing them with another people mentioned by Herodous, the Thyssagetae.
BERLAD A town and district in modern Romania 120 miles (200 km.) northeast of Bucharest. It was a center of semi-independent land under Galitzian suzereinity settled by Slavs and Vlachs. Its population lived under a "Military Democracy" (like habitants of Tmutarakan in 11th century and Ukrainian cossacks in 15th-16th centuries), and in the 12th century attempted the formation of a Principality.


BIHAR The frontier region between Hungary and Romania - in an extended sense the land between the Tisza River, the Szamos River, the Muresul River, and the Transylvanian highlands.


BULGARIA In ancient times the land of Thrace, Bulgaria emerged in its own right toward the end of the 7th century CE, when a branch of the Bulgar people, a Central Asian people deriving from various Turkic and Hunnic groups, migrated into the region from the Upper Volga. See also the Volgan Bulgars. Once in Thrace, the Bulgars became Slavicized to a strong degree. Bulgaria prospered, reaching something of a zenith in power during the first quarter of the 10th century. Thereafter, their power waned, and they became a tributary state to the Mongols from 1241 to 1300. Crushed by the Ottoman Turks in the late 14th century, they endured Turkish rule for over 500 years. Modern Bulgaria was created as a dependent Principality within the Ottoman Empire in 1879. Full independence was achieved in 1908.


BURZENLAND (Hung. Barcaság; Rom. Tara Bârsei; note also, Ger. Siebenbürgen) An historic and ethnographic area in southeastern Transylvania, with a mixed population of Germans, Romanians, Hungarians, and Jews. Historically, it was the center of the Transylvanian "Saxon" culture that flourished in the thirteenth and fourteenth century. Since the exodus of most of the German-speaking Transylvanians in the 20th century, this region has been predominantly inhabited by Romanians. The Burzenland lies within the Carpathian Mountains, bordered approximately by Apata in the north, Bran in the southwest and Prejmer in the east. Its most important city is Brasov. See the note at the bottom of this article regarding "Siebenburgen".


DESTRA (modern Silistra) On the Danube, in northeastern Bulgaria.

DOBROGEA The eastern Romanian litoral, between the north turning of the Danube as it approaches the Black Sea, and the Black Sea coast itself - the southern edge of Dobrogea lies within what is now northeastern Bulgaria.


MOLDAVIA (Moldovei) The eastern flank of what is now Romania. * Individuals marked thus were of Phanariote extraction. The Phanariotes were a group of influential Greek families residing in Phanar, the Greek Quarter of Istanbul. Members of these gens served the Ottoman Empire from the 1660's to 1821 as Dragomans (interpreters and, ipso facto, foreign policy advisors; and later as Hospodars (governors) of various Balkan provinces of the Ottoman Empire.


MOLDOVA The eastern regions of Moldavia, formerly the Soviet Republic of Bessarabia.


PAEONIA The Vardar Valley and surrounding districts, in the area of northern Greece, eastern Macedonia, and western Bulgaria. The people were Thraco-Illyrians. They suffered much disruption during the heyday of the Persian Empire, and fell under various foreign rulers, but remained an identifiable ethnic group until the advent of the Byzantine Empire.


ROMANIA Established as a dependent Principality within the Ottoman Empire in 1859, Romania became a fully independent Kingdom in 1881.


TRANSYLVANIA "The Land Beyond the Forest" comprises roughly one half of modern Romania, the rugged uplands of the Carpathians. After the defeat of Hungary at Mohacs, Transylvania became virtually independent for a time. It fell under the sway of Turkey, however, from 1566. It nevertheless retained considerable local autonomy as a dependent Principality with the Ottoman orbit. It extricated itself from Turkish suzerainty in 1686, transferring its allegiance to Austria-Hungary.


WALLACHIA (Valahiei) The southern third of modern Romania, comprising the fertile Danube valley. The modern Romanian capital at Bucharest is located here. * Individuals marked thus were of Phanariote extraction. The Phanariotes were a group of influential Greek families residing in Phanar, the Greek Quarter of Istanbul. Members of these gens served the Ottoman Empire from the 1660's to 1821 as Dragomans (interpreters and, ipso facto, foreign policy advisors; and later as Hospodars (governors) of various Balkan provinces of the Ottoman Empire.
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